56 The Demons offer. (1/2)

Li Yang did not waste too much time, quickly buying a few provisions as well as a new sword he could use. The sword was of a very normal quality, not even having reached Mortal Grade quality, and was made out of simple steel and without any arrays engraved. But as it only had to serve him until he could use his actual sword, it was good enough.

Cultivators were divided into realms, Demonic beasts into ranks, and weapons and armors were divided into grades. What decided an items grade was its materials as well as what arrays were engraved into it. The grades that Li Yang knew of were Mortal, Spiritual, Earth, and Heaven, each grade was further separated into Early, Middle, Late, Peak. The spear Jing Yimu had given Li Yang was a Mortal grade weapon of the middle stage, perfectly suitable for the strength he had shown at the time. At the time of Li Yang's death, his golden sword had been at the late stage of the Earth grade.

Once Li Yang had picked up provisions and a decent weapon, he quickly made his way out of the city, heading in the direction of the Cloud Wilderness. Li Yang had no intention of testing his luck and seeing if he could find a caravan that went in the direction of the Cloud Wilderness, he had a much simpler plan. After creating a bit of distance from the city, he veered off the road and found a spot where he could not be seen from the road. He pat Jinwu and Shenlong, speaking in a low voice.

”You two can either fly next to me or hold on tight, it's up to you.”

After he spoke, he bent forward slightly, his entire body tensing up as his muscles rippled. Crimson flames and azure lightning, both tinged with a hint of gold, started coursing around Li Yang's body. He had activated not only the flame strengthening technique of Jing Yimu but also his own lightning strengthening technique, his speed and strength drastically increasing. Jinwu and Shenlong both grabbed on tight, their eyes flashing with excitement.

Li Yang glanced at the two of them, checking that they were ready. Once they nodded their heads, he kicked off the ground and shot forward. The earth beneath him was torn open from the force of his movements, his body turning into a blur that was a mixture of azure, crimson, and violet. Li Yang could have fused with Jinwu and use his wings to fly, but that would be a little slower than his running speed when he used all his might, so he decided that running was the best option.

When he had hitched a ride with the caravan that was heading towards Cloud's End City, the entire trip had taken him five days. Of course, had they not taken a break twice a day, the trip would have gone quite a bit faster. Li Yang's running speed was far faster than the caravan, and he also didn't need to take any breaks, so the time it took him to reach the outskirts of the Cloud Wilderness was only a single day of constant running.

But the Liang tribe was located a small distance into the Cloud Wilderness, so Li Yang did not stop running after reaching the outskirts. He kicked off the ground and jumped up, grabbing onto a branch and quickly climbing up one of the trees. The trees in the Cloud Wilderness could easily reach several thousands of meters in height, towering above the ground. The trees in the outskirts had yet to grow that tall however, most of them only being around 100 meters in height, but that was already plenty tall.

There were fewer Demonic beasts in the treetops, and it would be easier for Li Yang to scout the area from up high, which was why he decided to travel the rest of the way by jumping from tree to tree. Before Li Yang could decide on how to proceed, he had to gather a bit more information about the people that had entered the Cloud Wilderness, especially how strong they were and how many there were.

Li Yang continued to jump from tree to tree, keeping a close watch on his surroundings. Only when he started getting a bit deeper into the Cloud Wilderness did he stop, crouching down on a branch. He closed his eyes and raised his arms, his palms facing each other, lightning dancing around his fingers and slowly forming a small orb between his palms.

Once the orb had grown to the size of his head, Li Yang opened his eyes and clapped his hands together. The lightning quickly dispersed, spreading into the surroundings and vanishing from sight, a myriad of information filling Li Yang's mind.

What he had used just now was a tracking technique from his previous life. The technique would spread lightning into the surroundings, forming a constant perimeter around the user. The lightning would resonate with the electricity that coursed through most living beings, allowing the one who used the technique to know about anything lurking in the surroundings.

Right now, Li Yang could only cover about 1000 meters in every direction with his lightning, and even that was only because he was so familiar with the technique. But that was also enough for the current him, allowing him to save some time on searching for anyone that might know some information. But even with the tracking technique active, it still took him some time to find anything other than some hidden Demonic beasts. After all, the Cloud Wilderness was unbelievably vast.

It was only after searching for almost six hours that he finally discovered someone human. His technique discovered two people, but one of them was on death's door, the electricity flowing within his body almost having crawled to a halt. Li Yang made his way closer to the two, his brows furrowing slightly. He recognized the location that the two people were at, it was one of the places where the flames of the Torch Dragon had landed after they were sent flying from a clash with the Golden Crow flames.

Li Yang stayed at the top of the trees as he moved stealthily, making sure that he kept himself hidden as best he could. He quickly made his way to the charred clearing where the two people were discovered, he could tell that one was lying on the ground while the other was pacing around the clearing. Li Yang stopped once he reached a tree at the edge of the clearing, his eyes narrowing when he saw the two people in the clearing.

There were two men in the clearing, one lying on the ground with severe injuries, while the other was pacing nervously and muttering to himself, his face pale and dyed with desperation. The man who was pacing around was a youth who seemed to be in his twenties, he had short and needle-like orange hair, green eyes, and was clad in a crimson robe embroidered with an emblem that featured a lone flame torching the sky.

The man lying on the ground was middle-aged and had rather rough features, his skin tanned and rough, he had long black hair that was dirtied with blood, and was clad in the hide of some animal. The reason Li Yang's eyes narrowed when he spotted the two people was because he recognized the middle-aged man, he was a farmer from the Liang tribe, Liang Jie. Li Yang had only rarely interacted with him, occasionally getting some vegetables from him.

Li Yang checked the body of Liang Jie, using the electricity within him to scope out the injuries. He had several broken bones, his ribs shattered and stabbing into his lungs, his organs were bruised and ruptured, his skull smashed somewhat. He was alive for the moment, but he would not last much longer, it was clear that he had received a brutal beating. The youth that was pacing around had some blood on his robe and hands, so it was clearly he who had inflicted the wounds. Li Yang temporarily moved his focus away from Liang Jie, his eyes landing on the youth as he strained his ears to pick up what he was muttering about.

”...Already been here for half a goddamn year. Fuck, if I don't produce any results soon, the clan might punish me for being incompetent. Shit, I only agreed to this because it was said to be an easy mission. Even the guides from these fucking tribes are useless, maybe I should just find Senior Brother Qiu and tag along with him, at least that way I can have someone to share in the blame.”

The youth continued to mutter back and forth about whether or not he should head towards this senior brother of his, so Li Yang decided that it was time to take action. Li Yang didn't say a word, simply raising his right arm and pointing towards the youth. Arcs of azure lightning coiled around his finger, forming a small spear that shot towards the youth.

The youth had a cultivation that was a little above Li Yang, having carved his sixth rune and entering the late stage of the Xiantian rune realm. Li Yang, on the other hand, had only carved five runes, carving the fifth one while he was traveling towards Cloud's End City. But even if the youth had carved one or two more runes, Li Yang was confident that he could still kill him easily, especially if he fused with Jinwu.

The youth's ears twitched as the spear of lightning got closer, quickly turning towards Li Yang with a shocked expression. He raised his arms, a large hammer adorned with flames appearing in his hand, blocking the path of the lightning. Li Yang simply sneered, the lightning suddenly dipping down and moving beneath the hammer. It dug into the leg of the youth, his veins and bones charring from the high heat as the lightning moved through his body.

The lightning scorched the youth's arms and legs, rendering them useless as he collapsed to the ground, his expression turning horrified. Once his arms and legs were useless, Li Yang jumped down from the tree, casually moving towards the youth. He didn't even have the chance to say anything before the youth let out a shout that contained a mixture of anger and fear.

”I am Huo Bo, how dare you do that to me?! Name yourself!”

Huo Bo's face was red from shouting, but Li Yang could see his eyes trembling. Since the insides of his arms and legs were completely roasted, he was lying sprawled on the ground, so he looked rather comical. Li Yang stopped in front of him, tilting his head slightly after hearing his name.

”Huo Bo, someone from the Huo clan?”

Li Yang could not help but raise an eyebrow and sweep Huo Bo with his eyes. Someone like this was from one of the three clans? Huo Bo's eyes lit up when he heard Li Yang's question, quickly nodding his head as best he could.

”That's right! Now...”

While Huo Bo was nodding his head and trying to say something, Li Yang interrupted him by kicking him in the mouth, shattering two of his teeth. After Huo Bo shut up, Li Yang walked to Huo Bo's left and placed his foot on his back, speaking slowly and calmly.

”I really don't care, so please shut up. I am going to ask you a few questions, and you are going to answer them truthfully. If you refuse to answer, or I believe that you are lying, I will torture you, understood? If you answer properly, it won't hurt too much.”

Hearing Li Yang's voice, which was so calm that it was almost chilling, Huo Bo did not dare do anything by repeatedly nod his head. Li Yang gave a slight nod of his head, his lips curling into an appreciative smile.

”Good. First question, how many people have entered the Cloud Wilderness in this half year?”

Li Yang could not help but be a little suspicious when he saw Huo Bo. Why was he searching all on his own, and why was someone so weak sent to look for the body of a Golden Crow and a Torch Dragon? Huo Bo stammered slightly, but he quickly responded.

”A...About 15 groups of people, each containing between five to ten people!”

Li Yang's suspicions grew when he heard the response. That few people had come? Li Yang would not have been surprised if several thousand people came from each clan. But he could not be completely sure yet, so he continued to ask.

”Okay, what is the cultivation of the strongest person who has entered here?”

This was the most important piece of information to Li Yang. If the ones who had arrived were too strong, he would have to be very careful with his actions. Huo Bo was silent for a moment, seemingly thinking over his answer before he called ut.

”The highest cultivation belongs to Senior Sister Yazhu and the others, having reached the early stage of the Ascending Foundation realm!”

Li Yang tilted his head slightly after hearing Huo Bo's response, his eyes glancing at Shenlong. Shenlong uncoiled himself from Li Yang's neck, slithering down his body until he reached Huo Bo's back. He sank his teeth into Huo Bo, arcs of lightning infiltrating his body and delivering pain that could almost be called soul-crushing. Huo Bo immediately started screaming, his voice growing rough and hoarse as blood started to flow up his throat.

”I'm telling the truth! I swear! Please believe me!”

Li Yang stopped Shenlong after a short moment, giving Huo Bo a chance to vomit up some of the blood that had pooled in his throat. His lips could not help but curl into a happy smile when he looked at Huo Bo, his answer had basically confirmed his suspicion, but he decided to ask another question just to be sure.

”Why have all of you entered the Cloud Wilderness?”

Huo Bo did not dare be a single second late in his response, lest he feel that terrible pain again. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Li Yang's smile, so he knew that Li Yang would not hesitate to torture him some more.

”We don't know! The clan's got information that something strange had happened, so we were sent to look for anything suspicious and told not to come back until we found anything!”